The yawning gap between locals’ and visitors’ consumption is stoking long-standing resentments ahead of an election.

As rain poured into Catalonia’s parched capital, the tourists did, too.

Yet while a damp April brought some relief to the drought-stricken Spanish region — which has been living under rain-starved skies for over three years — the crescendoing tourist season did not.

After all, spring is when visitors start spilling into Barcelona’s streets each morning from cruise ships, hotels and Airbnbs — and consuming considerably more of the city’s water than the average resident, threatening to push Barcelona’s water supply to the breaking point.

The disconnect has locals fulminating. While Catalan municipalities have faced water consumption limits since the region declared a drought emergency in early February, the tourism sector has largely escaped restrictions.

  • @ImFresh3x
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    -12 months ago

    My city banned Airbnb and VRBO, and actually successfully made it not a thing here. Not sure why Barcelona cannot also. The water usage issue seems easy to fix, or not really the issue at all.

    • @[email protected]
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      61 month ago

      It’s probably a bit more complicated than that… a city that relies so much on tourism economically can’t just start banning one of the main ways tourists stay there.